


Six

by DIPHYLLEIATAE



Category: Check Please! (Webcomic)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Future, Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Bullying, Comfort/Angst, Domestic Fluff, Established Relationship, Fluff and Angst, Future Fic, Homophobia, Homophobic Language, Hurt/Comfort, Light Angst, M/M, NurseyDex Week, dexnursey week, married! nurseydex, nurseydex - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-04
Updated: 2016-08-04
Packaged: 2018-07-29 09:30:55
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,721
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7679209
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DIPHYLLEIATAE/pseuds/DIPHYLLEIATAE
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Six kids, eight years.</p><p> </p><p>Six kids who whined about chores, who thought 6am was a good time to wake up on a Saturday morning, who started prank wars every other week and all had a mutual love for Lilo and Stitch.<br/>Six little people who they loved unconditionally.<br/>Six children who didn't realise just how much they had done for their parents.</p><p>They weren't Nursey and Dex; the d-men any more, they were Derek and Will; the parents.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Six

**Author's Note:**

> the fifth prompt for nurseydex week: future nurseydex  
> \- tw// homophobic language  
> \- look ik nurseydex week finished and it is now august but fuck it do i care  
> \- i don't know SHIT about the american schooling system or the law  
> \- dex is just a ball of fluff who gets hurt easily ok  
> \- characters belong to ngozi ukazu
> 
> [tumblr](http://daeguarchives.tumblr.com)   
>  [twitter](http://twitter.com/daeguarchives)

“ _I want Dad, not you, Papa.”_

That's what Rada had said this morning.

He knew the kids loved him just as much as they loved Derek, and if it had been Angus and Lottie who had said it, he would have been fine. (They were eight, they didn't know much about shit like this and Will knew damn well that they could say they hated him one minute and the next, they'd be begging for him to sing them to sleep). He would have been fine if any of the other kids had said it too, but it was _Rada_ who had said it _,_ their _sixteen_ year old daughter, the one that had been with them the _longest._

Truthfully, he knew Rada didn't mean it in a harsh way, she'd meant it in a logical way because it was true, she needed Derek at that point, not Will, because Derek was the one who was always the parent that had the solutions.

In a turn of events, after Samwell it was Derek who decided to pursue a career in teaching, going on to teach English at a college level andit was Will who owned a garage that was a fifteen minute drive from the house, though after the triplets came into their lives, he played the role of stay-at-home dad more than he did the role of mechanic. He didn't mind it, he liked it. Staying at home meant he got to spend more time with his children and that they wouldn't be raised by a nanny like Derek was, it also ensured that the kids had someone to go to no matter where they were.

They weren't Nursey and Dex; the d-men any more, they were Derek and Will; the parents.

Will was the one who made the rules which should have made him the bad cop but it was Derek who punished the kids for breaking them, automatically making him bad cop. That was only because Will really didn't like handing out punishments to his kids, he'd never liked the idea of taking something away from your kid to teach them a lesson. Derek was the fun parent, he guessed (even if it was a bit of a contradiction). Derek was the parent who went to parent-teacher conferences, who dropped the kids off at parties, who stopped to chat with the PTA moms after school was out and Derek was the one the kids introduced to everyone first.

Will was sort of just in the background because it was Derek who was the funny English professor, Derek was the fun parent and Derek was the sociable one. Will was the regular stay-at-home dad/mechanic, he was the parent who made the rules and he was the quiet one.

He and Derek had been together for 14 years now, they'd gotten engaged at 22 and married six months later. They adopted Rada when they were 24, they both had stable incomes and it seemed like a good idea at the time.

Rada had grown up in the foster system, her mother hadn't been able to take care of her properly due to the fact that she was broke after her father had died, and had left Rada on the steps of an orphanage when Rada was 2. Rada had spoken to the two of them in Arabic only at first, in hopes of deterring them from coming closer, her case worker then told the two that Rada had been fostered and then sent back many times. Rada was hesitant to trust the two of them, which they understood but after coming to the orphanage and playing with her every other weekend for a consecutive six months, she'd asked them if they were going to be her new parents. It all changed when they took her home, Rada had resorted to speaking Arabic again, like she had when they first met her. This time, instead of hoping she would start speaking in English again, Will learnt Arabic for two reasons, he wanted to understand his child and asking Derek to keep translating was getting annoying.

They'd adopted Angus and Lottie 4 years later, after consulting and talking to Rada, making sure she was alright with the entire thing. As soon as Rada had spotted the two ginger twins, she pulled at Will's hand and said, “I want them to be my new brothers.” The twins were a lot more open than Rada was when they met her, they'd only been in the system for six months when they met Derek and Will. Apparently, there had been a house fire at their family home and the twins were the only survivors due to the fact that they had been staying at a friend's house the night it had happened. When they came home, Derek and Will realised the twins had a habit of asking the two of them where they were going and when they would come back, it had taken a while but they had stopped doing it after they realised that they would always have one parent with them.

A year later came the triplets; Latifah, Rafa and Adam. They were only 2 when Derek and Will had adopted them, they'd originally gone in to adopt one more kid but the two of them had fallen in love with Adam who seemed to be a perfect mix of Derek and Will, with pale skin and freckles but brown eyes and dark hair like Derek's. The had then been informed that Adam had another sister and brother as he was a triplet and the orphanage didn't like separating siblings, so they went in to see Latifah and Rafa, only to fall in love with them too. They bought the triplets home and about a year later, Derek moved to teach a different school.

That was when they decided that Derek would attend all of Rada's parent-teacher conferences, take her and pick her up from school as he was closer to Rada's school while Will would do the same for the younger kids. It was also decided that Derek would go to the kids parties unless he genuinely couldn't make it, which never really happened. The only problem was none of the other parents really knew Will but everyone knew Derek, hell, Will had never even step foot in Rada's school building.

He didn't mind being the background parent, he knew his kids loved him when Rada would cuddle up to him while they watched _Lilo and Stitch_ for what seemed like the hundredth time, despite her insistence that she was too old for those movies and when the triplets would rush straight into the kitchen after school and show him the pictures they had drawn of him and when the twins would ask him to tell them a bedtime story because _“You do all the voices properly, Papa!”_

But some days, it just _hurt._

He didn't know why it was only some times or why it hurt so badly, he just knew that it did and that he would have to ignore it because that's what good parents do, they ignore their own feelings when their kids feelings are at stake.

Which is precisely what Will had decided to do as he drove to the school with the triplets in the back seats, the three 5 year olds had caught a fever off each other due to their intense need to always be together, and were staying at home with Will, watching _Timothy Goes To School_ as Will worked in the other room on the accounts for the garage. The phone had gone off and Adam had came stumbling in with the phone still ringing in his hand, handing it to Will with a smile before going back to his brother and sister. He recognised the number as Rada's school, expecting them to tell him to come pick Rada up as she had caught the fever from her brother, but it was worse.

“Hi, I'm Mrs Smith, the assistant head at your daughter's high school and I'm calling to let you know your daughter has been involved in an incident that requires your presence here, Mr Nurse.”

Will silently smiled, he had changed his last name to Derek's shortly after their honeymoon, hyphenating everything was getting tiresome.

“What incident was this?”

“I think it's best if you hear it from your own daughter.”

“Dad?”

“Rada, it's Papa. Dad's at the college right now, he'll be at home after school. Now, please tell me what is going on.”

“ _I want Dad, not you, Papa.”_

With that, Rada handed the phone back to Mrs Smith who uttered a quick goodbye and Will's mind was left to wonder about the worst case scenario about what could have happened to Rada while trying to get three 5 year olds away from the TV and into the car as they struggled to get away from him, continuously. When he reached the school, he unbuckled the three kids out of the car and crouched down so Rafa could get on his shoulders before he placed Latifah on his hip, warning Rafa to not kick her, hooking the baby bag (that was now filled with things to entertain five year olds onto his other shoulder) while Adam held his hand. He walked into the administration block, telling Rafa to put his head down every time they came across a door. He saw that the atrium was empty so he set the kids down on the few chairs in there and bought out a colouring book and a few felt tips, “I'm going to talk to the nice lady over there and you guys colour, okay?” Will walked over to the lady who sat at the receptionist's desk.

“Hi, I'm here for Rada Nurse. She's been involved in an incident.”

“Name and relationship to the child?” The receptionist replied.

“I'm Will Nurse, and Rada is my daughter.”

She looked at him with curiosity before saying, “Derek has never had anyone else pick up Rada from school.”

“ _I know that,_ I pick up the younger kids while he picks up Rada from school. When the school called, I was at home and Derek is at work currently and he can't leave till the school day is over, so I've come for Rada.”

She got up slowly, “Excuse me for a second.”

She came back a couple of minutes later with a man who Will recognised as the principal. While Will was always subjected to the younger kids' school runs, he did know the important figures of Rada's school due to the school website because that was where all the announcements were posted.

“Hello, how can I help you today?” The principal asked with a smile as fake as the Armani watch on his wrist.

“I'm here to sort out an incident involving my daughter, Rada. Now, can I please see my _own_ daughter or is there a problem?”

“Sir, you have to know that we can't let just anyone into our school to see one of the kids if we have no previous record of who you are, not to mention the fact that you have no relation to the child in question according to our school policy.”

 _Fuck,_ as if today couldn't get any worse, he was now being told that _his_ child _wasn't his_ child but _Rada was his._ The school didn't know the shit they had been through with Rada, they didn't know just how much he had done for Rada or how much having Rada in his life had done for him. He didn't let the underlying hurt and anger take over him, no, that would only make things worse.

“Can you wait while I call my husband and ask him if he has, in fact, been married to me for the past 10 years of our lives, then?”

The receptionist had the decency to blush as Will tapped on the call button next to Derek's name and waited for him to answer.

“Babe? What's wrong, you never call me while I'm teaching a class?” Derek whispered, obviously having stopped the lesson to talk to Will.

“The school called me in because Rada has been in an incident which one of us needed to come solve except now that I'm here, no one's believing the fact that I am Rada's other father.”

“Put the principal on the line,” Derek replied, sounding unusually tense.

Will handed the phone to the principal, “Yes, of course. I'll just let Shayla check the records,” the receptionist then tapped a few keys on the computer before pointing at something on the screen, “You're right, Mr Nurse. Your husband is the other emergency contact, I apologise.”

The principal handed the phone back to Will, “Thanks, babe.”

“Will, do you want me to come to the school?”

“Nah, it's fine. Can you pick the twins up from school and just... Just be at home as soon as possible, yeah?”

“Okay, love you.”

“Love you too, Derek.”

Will turned around and picked up his children like he had when he got out of the car and raised his eyebrows expectantly at the principal and receptionist who quickly blushed before opening the door and leading him to the principal's office. He walked in to see Rada, another girl and presumably, the girl's parents sitting on chairs opposite the principal's desk. He quietly set the kids down in the corner and took the colouring book out like he did before, the triplets stayed silent as if they knew this was a bad time to whine about being bored.

Will sat down beside Rada, who looked to the other side of the room and _fuck,_ if that didn't hurt.

“Rada,” he said gently as he placed his own pale hand on her smaller, brown one, “Look at me,” she still looked at the wall, _“Please.”_ He said, sounding desperate even to his own ears. Rada slowly turned to her father as she squeezed his hand tightly, as if to say _'don't make a scene'._

He didn't make a scene but Will couldn't stop the gasp that came out of his mouth or the tears that filled his eyes. Rada had a slowly bruising eye, a long scratch down her cheek and there was dried blood on her nose, he looked at the other girl who had a matching black eye and what was probably a broken nose, judging by the way she was holding it. Will looked at the girl's parents and just knew they meant trouble, they were the sort of parents Derek would describe to him when he was talking about Andover; rich, racist, homophobic and willing to do anything their child said, even if it meant fucking someone else over.

The principal cleared his throat and said, “I'm sure you're all aware of the incident that occurred in the school hallways today. Due to the fact that Rada had attacked Taylor first, I think it's appropriate that we talk expulsion for at least three or four days.”

Will paled, “Expulsion? Isn't that too much for a sixteen year old girl who's only been in one fight this whole year?”

Before the principal could say anything, Taylor's mother cut in, “No, it's too easy, the girl deserves a permanent expulsion. She shouldn't be able to set foot in this school again, not after she attacked my Tay-Tay like this. Oh, and Mr Nurse? We _will_ be pressing charges.”

“ _Pressing charges?_ She's a sixteen year old girl, you're going to ruin her life!” Will said, close to tears at the prospect of his little girl not getting everything she deserved in life because of one stupid fight with a rich, white girl. Of course, he and Derek were rich too but they'd never used their power or wealth to hurt someone like Taylor's parents were. If they pressed charges, Rada would have doors slammed in her face when it came to college, she might not be able to get a good job not to mention the fact that no other school like this would take her in as a student.

“Of course we're going to press charges! She attacked my daughter without a good reason!”

“She must have had a reason, albeit there is no good reason to fight but Rada doesn't do irrational things without reason, especially out of the blue!”

“This isn't out of the blue, Taylor told us over the phone that your daughter has been harassing her all year, she's a bully and nothing else.”

Will turned to Rada, “Is this true?”

She nodded before saying, “It wasn't for no reason and it's the other way around actually. Taylor has been harassing _me_ all year and of course I retaliated, it wasn't funny the first time or the fifth time.”

“Rada, what has she been saying?”

“She's been saying stuff about you and Dad.”

Will slumped in his seat, Rada was getting bullied because she had two dads, that wasn't fair. She was a sixteen year old girl, she had no control over who her parents were and Will was sick of it. He wiped at his tears, sat up straight and steeled himself for what he was going to do next. But how did she know that Rada had two dads? He studied Taylor's face carefully before coming to the realisation that she had seen them before.

_It was the day of the triplets 5 th birthday and of course, they had taken it upon themselves to invite everyone in their year. There was one kid who hadn't turned up yet but Rafa kept insisting that Jesse was going to show up, “He just has swimming practice today as well, Papa!”._

_It was an hour in when the door bell rang and Will went to answer it, in front of him stood a blonde little boy with three presents stacked up on each other in his hands as well as his sister, Will assumed._

“ _Hey, Mr Nurse!”_

“ _Hey, Jesse! Do you want me to take these presents and put them on the table so the kids can open them later with everyone else?”_

“ _Yeah, thanks!” Jesse said before handing the presents to Will, bumping into Derek, apologising briefly and running straight to the back yard._

_Derek wrapped an arm around Will's waist before resting his head on Will's shoulder and gently kissing his neck._

_He didn't even notice Taylor taking a step back before she stumbled back on the front step and muttered a quick goodbye before running out of the gate._

“If you are going to press charges against Rada, I'll have you know we're going to press charges against Taylor.”

Taylor's mother looked outraged, “On what grounds!?”

“Assault.”

Taylor's father interjected, “Taylor was acting in self defence, there's no way you're going to be able to pull that off.”

“It's not self defence if Taylor provoked Rada,” he turned to Taylor, “You want to tell your parents what you've been saying about me and my husband or shall I?”

Taylor went red and shook her head before saying, “I never said anything about you and your husband to Rada. I didn't even know she had two dads.”

“So it wasn't you who posted the homophobic notes in my locker? The notes where you called my papa a fag who didn't pick me up because he was ashamed to be in a relationship with a black man?” Will flinched at the word, it had been a long time since that word had been directed at him, and even longer time where people attacked the two of them for being in an interracial relationship.

“The notes where you said my Dad had probably pity fucked my Papa?” He flinched again, _did people really think that when they saw Derek and Will together? He knew Derek was way out of his league but_ _ **a pity fuck**_ _?_

“So it wasn't you who embarrassed me in the girls locker room by telling everyone I was probably gay like my dads? And it _definitely_ wasn't you who wrote _'queers burn'_ on the front of my textbook in permanent marker?” Rada had stood up at this point, ready for another fight with Taylor.

“You have no proof,” Taylor's mother said with a smug smile.

“Aside from the notes, the textbook, the girls in our locker room and just about everyone in our year group, Mrs McKinney, you're right, I have no proof.” Rada replied looking even more smug.

“I'll have you know we will still be pressing charges against your daughter.”

“So will we, not just for assault but for hate crime too. Derek and I may not be as rich as you but we do have powerful friends, one of them being the best lawyer in this state, I'm sure you've heard of Mr Knight? On top of that, we will be pushing for the harshest punishment there is for your daughter. If you think, for one second, that I am going to let you destroy my daughter’s future, you're dead wrong.”

The McKinney's looked scared, as if they were sitting in front of another person before they looked at each other and said, “We're dropping the charges.”

Will turned to the principal, “Now, I want to make sure that neither of these girls get a punishment from the school, okay? If they do, I will personally be responsible for bringing this school's reputation in tatters.”

With that, Will bundled everything into the baby bag, picked the kids up but this time Adam went on Rada's hip and walked out of the office and straight to the car.

He didn't say a word to anyone on the drive home, he just felt _so disgusted_ with himself. How could he act like that; threatening another girl's future because he was angry? He was acting just like his own father, when his own father refused to pay his tuition bills for Samwell when he introduced Derek as his boyfriend. He parked the car and heard Rada say a quiet thank you before getting out of the front passenger seat and getting the kids out of the car. He sat in the car and rubbed at his temple, he was so tired and he felt so _dirty_. He promised himself the moment they adopted Rada that he would never act like his own father, _but he did_ and it felt so _wrong_. He wiped at his eyes again and walked into the house, making a bee line for the stairs when Derek stopped him.

He walked into the living room and saw Rada sitting beside Derek, curled into his side.

“Get some ice out of the fridge and go to your room, Rada. You shouldn't have acted like that today, you should have been more mature about things.”

Rada looked outraged and jumped up, “I was defending you! Why are you mad at me? And anyway, you handled it.”

“That's the problem, Rada!” Will cried, “I didn't handle it like a good person! I threatened a sixteen year old girl's future because you had a fight! _A sixteen year old!_ Over a fight that wasn't necessary at all.”

“She called you and dad a bunch of fags! Was I supposed to just stand there and let her?”

“Yes, Rada, you were! Your father and I have been through worse, okay? We've had people attack us for being gay. We've had people attack us for being an interracial couple, hell, my own _father_ disowned me! The point is, I didn't appreciate being put in a situation where I had to resort to threatening a young girl's future, when I did that, that made me no better than the McKinney's when they threatened _your_ future. You should know by now that people are always going to hate what they deem wrong, and you can't just beat up all the homophobes and racists, you have to use your words, even when you don't want to!”

“I knew this was going to happen, somehow _you_ would make me fee like it was a bad thing to stick up for the two people I love the most. This is why I said I needed Dad, and not you, Papa!”

Will took a step back as if Rada had just struck him across the face.

“I'm just going to go lay down, okay?” He croaked out weakly.

He went up the stairs, leaving the rest of the Nurses in silence before Rada spoke up again.

“Should I go up there and apologise?”

“Not yet, he won't open the door for you. He might open it for me, though.”

“If you go up there, can you tell him I'm sorry?”

“It's not just you, something else must have happened today. He would have gone in to the kitchen or the garden if it was just you.”

“I didn't mean it like that, I meant that I needed you because you would handle it without getting mad at me.”

“He knows that and he's not mad at you, he's actually mad at himself. He doesn't like acting out like that, it reminds him of his dad. You know how he said he threatened that girl's academic future, well, his dad threatened his academic future by refusing to pay for his tuition bills. He knows what it's like to feel like you're going to lose everything you worked for and when he threatened her, he felt like a replica of his dad.”

“Shit.”

“Hey, the kids are in the next room, mind your language,” Derek stood up, “I'm going to head upstairs to see Will, you should probably stay down here.”

With that, Derek went up the stairs, pausing at the door of his and Will's bedroom, he heard a little sniffling but he didn't hear any crying from the room so he just walked in.

What he saw just about broke his heart.

Will was bundled up underneath all the blankets, somehow making himself look so small despite his 6 foot something stature. He was hugging a pillow to his chest, occasionally bringing the pillow up to wipe his face with before going back to tracing patterns on the bedside table with his fingers. He looked out of the window, looking completely lost before wrapping the blankets around him tighter, snuggling in, trying to sleep.

Derek walked in and tentatively sat down behind Will before he started rubbing at Will's back. Will sat up against the headboard and held Derek's hand in his own as he wiped away the tears.

“Ah, fuck. I don't even know why I'm so worked up about this. I did what I had to do to make sure our daughter's future was safe, so why do I feel so bad about this?”

“Will, you know why you feel bad but you have to realise that the two of you are not the same people. You never will be.”

“But I threatened a sixteen year old and then I shouted at Rada. Oh God, I shouted at Rada, she probably hates me right now. All my life I told myself that I would never be like him but look at me now, look. I'm doing what he did, I'm such a fucking shitty parent.”

“Will, listen to me,” Derek said as he moved forward so he could look in Will's eyes, “Your father threatened and verbally abused you for no other reason than the fact that he was a bigoted asshole. You threatened that girl's future, which I know is bad, but you threatened it to keep our daughter safe. And you didn't shout at Rada, you reprimanded her and told her how you felt. Will, you are so different from your father, and you're not a shitty parent.”

Will smiled before moving so he was nestled into Derek's lap, “This is so fucking stupid. I overreacted like I always do.”

“It's not stupid. Any way, how many times have I come to you because I thought the triplets hate me? Or because I thought I did something wrong? We're allowed to have bad days, Will. We're parents, not superheroes.”

Will looked up at Derek and gently kissed him, “I love you.”

Derek kissed Will's forehead and replied, “I love you too.”

 


End file.
